`Elites To America' Society Would Help Researchers

Family History

May 07, 1989|By VIRGINIA H. ROLLINS

You know the glib promise of the English genealogist who said "For 25 pounds we will prove that you came over with William the Conqueror; for fifty pounds that you are related to Williamm the Conqueror and for four hundred pounds that you are William the Conqueror."

The desire for titled and touted ancestors has sometimes resulted in family histories and published lineages of great distinction but little fact. The usual motivation is a deep-seated human desire to join things. Americans have two kinds of things to join: organizations which want everyone in like the Boy Scouts and PTA, and organizations which want almost everybody out like "des descendants des souverains de la France et des grands feudataires." Descendancy from Ivan the Terrible or any line of royalty, legitimate or otherwise, seems to be worth more than ancestors who lived and died without much said about it.

Several societies center around the Norman invaders who conquered England and robbed our Saxon forefathers of their lands and castles and wealth and fair daughters. Soon everyone in England and later in America desired to claim these Normans as ancestors. The effort to prove such connection has resulted in valuable libraries of lineages and histories covering a thousand years. A vast cache of genealogical records has resulted from tracing lines to participants in military activities in the colonies, the wars with Indians, the Revolution, War of 1812, and the Civil War. Among these are "The Military Order of the Crusades"; Sons- Daughters- Children, of the Revolution; several organizations relating to the War of 1812; and the Civil War on both sides.

The DAR has contributed immeasurably to genealogy and to every patriotic enterprise. I wait for the DAR to allow membership to descendants of the Brit ish side. It is logical; without the British there could have been no Revolution. My English ancestors did not cross the Atlantic to battle. They stayed in Yorkshire operating large woolen mills. They turned out yards and tons of red woolen for military use. Consider it. English soldiers shulking in American woods in bright red jackets. What finer contribution could be provided to the cause of American liberty? It pales Patrick Henry's performance.

Descendants of first families in almost every area have organized and developed excellent lineage records and histories of these people. First Families of Virginia; First Families of Mississippi; First Families of Ohio are among these. The Colonial Dames of America, the Jamestowne Society, the Dutch Colonial Society of Philadelphia and Colonial Societies of New England States are among the strong contacts with early settlers in America.

Frederick Lewis Weis has published "Ancestral Roots of Sixty Colonists Who Came to New England Between 1623 and 1650." The Lineage of Alfred the Great, Charlemagne, Malcolm of Scotland, Robert the Strong...descendants. B Genealogical Publishing Company. Baltimore.

To join the "Descendants of the Illegitimate Sons and Daughters of the Kings of Britain" you need no special invitation but may belong if you can prove descent.

The Family Association is the efficient way and these organizations are growing daily in every country. "The Hereditary Register of the United States of America" contains listings of hundreds of family associations. The Newsletter of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History contains listings and addresses of family organizations. Its address is Box 20425, Cleveland, Ohio 44121. There is an annual fee for the publication.

Locally, many families are organizing. The Family History Center will give assistance in getting started. A nationwide surname exchange on micro fiche is available in the Center. The Virginiana Room in Hampton has a surname exchange which may help find cousins.

Since it is unlikely that discrimination because of nationality or blood type will change and since every family cannot trace to royal lineage, I propose a new organization which will bring fulfillment to millions: "Descendants of the Emigrants Leaving in the Emigration Ships to America." (ELITES to America.) Eligibility requirement for membership is an address in the United States, Canada or Mexico. (Although it is not a matter of discrimination, further documentation will be required of American Indians.)